FEATURE: Industrial uncertainty and an urgent need for more infrastructure are putting the squeeze on iron ore exports through Port Hedland, while productivity increases and transshipment options are also being mulled over statewide.
FEATURE: Mining sector players are creating innovative solutions – particularly in the iron ore, uranium, and base metals areas, and the graduate labour market – to deal with the changing economic environment.
Pilbara iron ore miner BC Iron has flagged lower production and haulage rates from its Nullagine joint venture operation with Fortescue Metals Group while initiatives are put in place to more efficiently process iron ore from the site.
Iron ore prices may have softened significantly from about $US130 a tonne during the past year, but that has not stopped local miners ramping up exports.
Mid-tier iron ore miner Mineral Resources has increased its full-year net profit by 28 per cent to $231 million, with the help of a 93 per cent increase in iron ore export volumes.
Fortescue Metals Group has awarded Perth-based Intellect Systems, a subsidiary of Resource Development Group, a control and engineering services contract for the first stage of its North Star magnetite project in the Pilbara.
FEATURE: Biotech and IT companies are enjoying renewed investor interest, but these innovative businesses are facing a changing capital raising market featuring less government support and, in Perth, a drastic shift in the venture capital sector.
Education Minister Peter Collier has embarked on a bold strategy aimed at reallocating his $4.6 billion budget among the state's 700 secondary and primary schools. It is a move fraught with political risk.
Western Australian based stocks rose 18.9 per cent in the twelve months to Hune 30, but most of the gains were in the first six months of that period, according to the Deloitte WA Index released today.
The Abbott government has published the long-awaited Forrest Review of Indigenous jobs and training, with wide ranging recommendations including a healthy welfare card.
The private developer of a 150 megawatt power station with contracts to Fortescue Metals Group has announced the all inclusive cost of the project will be $570 million.
FEATURE: Perth is in the middle of its biggest wave of office construction in decades, but a sustained burst of new supply means future prospects for commercial developers are increasingly bleak.
Sedgman's joint venture operation with Thiess has won a $64 million contract for the design and construction of a modular iron processing plant at Fortescue Metal Group's Solomon iron ore mine in Western Australia.
FEATURE: Takeovers are a powerful way of delivering short-term returns to investors, as the Total Shareholder Return data released by Morningstar and applied to 700 companies on the Business News BNIQ database.
Driving up the Great Northern Hwy from Midland to Port Hedland, you can't help but marvel at the number of trucks on the road – and be concerned about what lies ahead for wheatbelt communities after the closure of the ‘tier 3' rail lines.
Gina Rinehart has followed fellow iron ore magnate Andrew Forrest's lead and expanded her interests to include cattle farming, reportedly spending $40 million on a half-stake in two cattle stations
OTOC Australia has been awarded a $3 million contract with NRW for the mine process plant in-ground services at the Roy Hill iron ore project in the Pilbara.
Giving managers responsibility for making decisions relevant to their sections is crucial at marine services business TAMS Group, which has steadily added new capabilities and staff to differentiate itself as a full service provider in a market full of specialists.
Fortescue Metals Group has signed a contract with a Chinese shipyard for the construction of four iron ore carriers that are even larger than the Cape size vessels currently in use in the industry.
Western Australia's inaugural Telstra Business Woman of the Year says professional women still encounter many of the same barriers today as they did two decades ago.
The slump in the price of iron-ore to near 20-month lows has failed to halt the development of assets in Australia and overseas, despite ongoing cost cutting across the sector.
Atlas Iron managing director Ken Brinsden has called on opposition leader Bill Shorten to come up with an alternative to the Mineral Resources Rent Tax if Labor continued to block its repeal.
Fortescue Metals Group has called for the phasing out of the state government's contentious domestic gas reservation policy, which has traditionally been backed by big gas buyers, in favour of stricter application of the ‘use it or lose it' rules.
Mines and Petroleum Minister Bill Marmion has flagged new industry safety guidelines in the wake of five mining fatalities in Western Australia in nine months.
BHP Billiton Iron Ore president Jimmy Wilson says the mining giant is likely to request government intervention to prevent a "devastating" proposed strike at Port Hedland which could cost miners up to $100 million a day.
